Starting online business.

[pablo1999]

I'm in the process of starting an online business. I'm very familiarized with the technology part of the business (servers, shopping carts, payment gateways, etc..)

My question are:

1. How I can start doing my research on what products sellable?

2. How to come up with a strategy?

Thank you in advanced.

[InfoSourcing]

Hi,

As you said that you are familiar with "technology" I would say in order to do business you should be familiar with it also, understand the flow of supply chain, as to where you would procure your products from which vendor, and how you would deliver it to your customers....

Regd which products are sellable, I guess from small products like shampoo to defense missile is sellable what matters to sell is do you know the market and in order to research which market is good for you identify top 3 product lines such as computers, beauty products and home furnishing.

Computers - too many competition and less margins, margins only in services
Beauty products - need to be familiar with this business line and check its margin same with home furnishing ...

I would say visit eBay, Yahoo stores and see other vendors/business owners selling and what is selling the most and see the profit margin and what kind of investment they have made...

Check Google and Overture keywords for specific product lines and see the competition to understand how much people are willing to spend on marketing and how they are selling to understand the overall ROI

It is all about connecting the dots .....

[pschwind001]

You can check out Worldwide Brands Market Research Wizard for ideas on what to sell. I have not personally used the service, but it sounds promissing. They offer a free preview at http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/freepre_index.asp

If you decided to use this, please let us know what you think of the service.

[DMuse]

Personally, I think the best strategy is to specialize in an area in which you are passionate. You are going to be spending a lot of time focusing on your business, so make it something you enjoy. That enthusiasm is bound to come across to your customers.

That said, here are a couple of sites that can provide some insight into Internet trends and industry demographics:
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/
http://www.hitwise.com

[Gromit]

Starting a business requires all kinds of research, so you might find this article helpful since it lists a bunch of reliable online research tools and sites:

http://smallbusinesscomputing.com/ne...le.php/3526751

I have to agree with DMuse -- find something you're passionate about. You'll be spending a lot of time starting and running the business, so you might as well enjoy what you're doing. Plus, if you just sell what's hot, what everyone else is selling, you end up with a lot of well-established competition. That sounds like an up-hill battle.

[browseI]

I see somebody actually recommended the WWB Membership. It is great, and yes there is a market research tool they have. But not to used alone. You should do your own research. If you don't know how, you can take a look at this tutorial!

[interspirepro]

Most online businesses fail just like brick and mortars. The key is persistence which is naturally driven by passion. Check out Google Trends to see how search behavior has been recently for topics and ideas. Good luck with the research and future endeavors!

[signboard]

I agree interspirepro, starting online business is not easy, a lot of research involved for items and markets. Good luck for you.

[vsl.online]

A lot of research is really something others usually forget causing them to perform less effectively with their new businesses so I suggest you do a lot of research first.

You can use adwords for looking up which keywords are strong, which can also imply which products are up for selling.

[bg1229]

I think the best way to come up with a strategy would be to read a few books on basic sales and marketing strategy and then some focused books on your industry. That's kind of a broad question so you get a really broad answer.

[Tamsin Presley]

I have joined some of the online business sites . can i create a site on my experiences with those sites(on line business sites) . Would such a site attract traffic?..

Make money online

[Jill Jack]

Can I sell somebody products even without a website of my own? Or do i need to have my own website? I do love to have small business online, because i want to work at home.

[Tamsin Presley]

Hi,

I would also strongly reccomend you look at books, as well as websites. I know there are tons of books out there personally I like - It is possible to make money online. I do strongly suggest you throughly research everything first, then go on and decide what is best for you
Try reading .amazon.com/gp/product/1933596... which is "The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense" by Joel Comm. And .amazon.com/gp/product/0979192... which is "A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Quick Reference for Affiliate Managers & Merchants" by Evgenii Prussakov.

[michael123]

There is no straight answer to successful marketing and you just have to keep learning and trying until you find a method that is suitable for you.

[JoeriNewton]

Hi,

Try weblog software. It will give your site all the structure you need, plus make it easy to quickly post new content. My favorits is WordPress, which is open source, free and easy to install and use.